Church History

This is not meant to be an exhaustive commentary on this sometimes-touchy topic. Joseph the Prophet can teach us much about how to deal with the temptations and influence of Satan in our lives. This first article draws a few lessons from some of the experiences Joseph had while in his teens.

Joseph Smith the Prophet of God had many experiences, while yet in his teens, with the prince of darkness, the father of all lies. His accounts are many and instructive for us to learn how to recognize, discern and deal with the powers of darkness. We now live in a time when the battle with evil is pitched as never before. President Nelson has taught, “The battle with sin is real. The adversary is quadrupling his efforts to disrupt testimonies and impede the work of the Lord. He is arming his minions with potent weapons to keep us from partaking of the joy and love of the Lord.”[i]

The 1838 Account of the First Vision

Whenever there is a great outpouring of light in our lives, or a wonderful, powerful or marvelous spiritual experience, it seems like “old Scratch,” as C.S. Lewis once called him, wants to jump in and make our lives miserable or try to influence us to discount what we have just felt or experienced. Yes, Lehi’s teachings to Jacob are true, “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.”[ii]

When young Joseph went into the Grove to seek for an answer from God about the state and standing of his life, how he could obtain forgiveness from his sins (at age 14!) and to inquire about which of all the churches was true, he had no idea what was about to happen—both from the dark side and from the heavens. Let’s explore, from the various accounts of the First Vision, Joseph’s descriptions of his interactions with darkness. Some of these are lengthy, but let’s read them together so we can learn of the reality of the opposition that we face.

Here’s the most-often-quoted passage from the first vision in the 1838 account (I have left it just as it is in the hand-written account):

“After I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God, I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was < siezed > upon by some power which entirely overcame me and < had > such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had siezed upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction, not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world who had such a marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being. Just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar < of > light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gracefully gradually untill it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.”[iii]

Okay, let’s do some discerning together. Here are some lessons I take from this account.

First. Satan knew who Joseph was from the pre-mortal world: the mighty, foreordained head of the dispensation of the fulness of times. Satan has no veil and so he clearly saw beyond the 14-year-old-farmboy-disguise—and he was there to make every effort to not only stop Joseph from communicating with God, he was there to destroy him. And Satan also knows us. This isn’t to scare us. We just need all the intel we can have spiritually not to be influenced or detracted from our own pre-mortal missions. When Satan showed his hand so clearly in the Sacred Grove, he also made a big blunder by exposing so clearly his own tactics to the rest of the dispensation! Ha! Gotcha.

Second. Satan worked first on Joseph’s tongue so that he could not speak. What an obvious tactic. He does the same thing with us and it comes in different ways. Fatigue. “I am just too tired to pray tonight.” Same thing—you are not going to use your tongue. Rush-rush world. “I am late for my class or my job or my meeting or church. I don’t have time to pray.” Same tactic. Tiny prayers. “This prayer is going to have to be quick because we need to go to bed or we need to get going.” Same thing (with some exceptions). Listen to what Nephi taught: “For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.”[iv]

Third. Satan uses “thick darkness” that gathers around us and can even make us feel like we are “doomed to sudden destruction.” I think we have all felt that darkness from time to time or even more often. Our vision of reality becomes obscured by lies (that is darkness). Our understanding or stress concerning a certain challenge or obstacle becomes “more than we can take.” This is darkness. We have financial challenges that just engulf us. This can also be darkness. We will see how to disperse this in a minute.

Fourth. Satan is an actual being from the unseen world. He is real. He exists. He is not a metaphor or a sectarian notion or a long-time false tradition. We have to know this. We learn from our great friend, Nephi, that Satan uses another lie to deceive us in this category:

“And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.”[v]

What a slippery, tricky character. He is real.

Fifth. Here is the key from this account: “exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me…” Now, sometimes the powers of darkness are greater than just being released by prayer. The “all my powers” part, to me, means to access everything you have available to you. A trusted priesthood holder can and should be called upon to cast Satan out. This has to be done using the power and authority of the priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself cast out numerous evil spirits during His ministry. Follow His example.

Sixth. I do find it so refreshing that when the light came, that pillar of light which descended “gracefully,” and then he changes the word to “gradually,” he was “delivered from the enemy which held me bound.” There is deliverance and it comes from God as noted in the fifth point above.

The 1835 Account of the First Vision

I bring this account into this because there are at least two things I draw from this description of the First Vision. I have left this in the original as well. Look closely.

“…information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination I to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to pray, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter, I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, < I > strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer…”[vi] was

Please notice carefully these two things (and there are more).

One. Satan used fear and shame. Fear because Joseph could not see a person or thing that was producing the noise of walking, and shame because Joseph had desired to be alone so that he could make his first attempt to pray out loud. Fear truly is a first-line tactic of Satan’s in so many situations and instances. If he can strike fear in our hearts, well, he has partially won already.

Two. Distraction. The very act of interrupting Joseph’s attempt to pray by pounding footsteps through the woods in a secluded place where Joseph knew that he could be alone and “having looked around me, and finding myself alone”—this distraction was unexpected and jarring. We often face distraction in our busy, social media-saturated, Facebook-fraught, Instagram-ignited world. Let’s watch for it and don’t be taken by it.

Orson Hyde’s Contemporary Account of the First Vision

We have four primary source accounts of the First Vision either written personally by the Prophet Joseph or dictated by him to a scribe. We also have five contemporary accounts, given by others whom Joseph told the vision to or they heard him talk about it and they wrote down what they remember during Joseph’s lifetime. These include Orson Pratt (1840) and Orson Hyde (1842), both apostles; Levi Richards (1843), David Nye White Interview (1843) and Alexander Neibaur (1844). There is much to be learned from each account, but let’s just look at Orson Hyde’s writings.

“On one occasion, he went to a small grove of trees near his father’s home and knelt down before God in solemn prayer. The adversary then made several strenuous efforts to cool his ardent soul. He filled his mind with doubts and brought to mind all manner of inappropriate images to prevent him from obtaining the object of his endeavors; but the overflowing mercy of God came to buoy him up and gave new impetus to his failing strength. However, the dark cloud soon parted and light and peace filled his frightened heart. Once again he called upon the Lord with faith and fervency of spirit.”[vii]

Here are some takeaways.

One. Satan tried to “cool his ardent soul.” What a great description of how the adversary can take our best intentions and our most righteous desires and just cool our enthusiasm, stop the momentum, slow us down, make the ideas seem not so great after all, keep us from the goal we set out to do. Cool our ardent souls. That’s really a good one to pay attention to in our own lives.

Two. Satan filled Joseph’s young mind with doubts. That is a bullseye for Satan’s most fiery darts. The whole use of doubt is so effective. We doubt our gifts. We doubt our abilities. We doubt our talents. We doubt our good intentions. We doubt our own identity. Doubt is a very powerful tool of the adversary and we must constantly be vigilant and pay attention to its entry into our hearts.

Three. Satan brought to Joseph’s mind all manner of inappropriate images to prevent him from obtaining the object of his endeavors. Those inappropriate images today might translate into an incorrect view of who we really are eternally. It might be a diminished enthusiasm and the vision that what we really desired to do was probably too lofty or too stupid or “I wouldn’t deserve an answer or a gift from God anyway” type thought. It might be pornography. It might be already forgiven past sins or weaknesses. There are any number of inappropriate images that will prevent us from obtaining the object of our own righteous endeavors. Remember, we are just exploring here—there is much that could be expanded in each of these accounts beyond what we have done.

Joseph’s Special Training from Moroni about the Adversary

According to both Lucy Mack Smith and Oliver Cowdery, Joseph was given a vision of the powers of darkness on Monday, September 22, 1823 right on the sacred hill where the gold plates were hidden. This was for the purpose of giving Joseph an early lesson on how to discern between light and dark and to always choose the light.

When Joseph went to the hill the very first time (on the above date), he found the place where the plates were hidden (which had also been shown to him previously in vision) and after leveraging the stone and opening the box, his mind slipped into thinking that perhaps there were things of worth therein that could help his family out of their indigent circumstances. He tried to take the plates out of the box and received a shock through his whole body. He tried again and received the same shock. He tried a third time with the same results. He cried out, “Why can I not obtain the plates?” and the Angel Moroni immediately appeared nearby and informed him that his mind was not yet prepared and ready and that he must keep his feelings and purpose completely single to the glory of God. At this point, Moroni opened a vision to Joseph’s view.

Lucy’s account reads as follows:

“Now I will show you the distance between light and darkness, and the operation of a good spirit and an evil one. An evil spirit will try to crowd your mind with every evil and wicked thing to keep every good thought and feeling out of your mind, but you must keep your mind always staid upon God, that no evil may come into your heart.”

“The angel showed him, by contrast, the difference between good and evil, and likewise the consequences of both obedience and disobedience to the commandments of God, in such a striking manner, that the impression was always vivid in his memory until the very end of his days; and in giving a relation of this circumstance, not long prior to his death, he remarked that ever afterwards he was willing to keep the commandments of God.”[viii]

Oliver’s account gives us some further details of this same occasion. I have left this exactly as it was recorded in the original source: and  

“He [Joseph] had come, to be sure, and found the word of the angel fully fullfilled concerning the reality of the record but he had failed to remember the great end for which they had been kept, and in consequence could not have power to take them into his possession and bear them away.

“At that instant he looked to the Lord in prayer, and as he prayed darkness began to disperse from his mind and his soul was lit up as it was the evening before, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit; and again did the Lord manifest his condescension and mercy: the heavens were opened and the glory of the Lord shone round about and rested upon him. While he thus stood gazing and admiring, the angel said, ‘Look!’ and as he thus spake he beheld the prince of darkness, surrounded by his innumerable train of associates.

“All this passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, ‘All this is shown, the good and the evill, the holy and impure, the glory of God and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter the two powers and never be influenced or overcome by that wicked one Behold, whatever entices and leads to good and to do good, is of God, and whatever does not is of that wicked one,[ix] It is he that fills the hearts of men with evil, to walk in darkness and blaspheme God; and you may learn from henceforth, that his ways are to destruction, but the way of holiness is peace and rest. You now see why you could not obtain this record; that the commandment was strict, and that if ever these sacred things are obtained they must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord.[x] the  

There are so many lessons for us to learn from this vision. Here are just a few:

One. From Lucy’s account, I love this sentence: “An evil spirit will try to crowd your mind with every evil and wicked thing to keep every good thought and feeling out of your mind, but you must keep your mind always staid upon God, that no evil may come into your heart.” That whole idea of “crowding our minds” with evil and wicked things is so common for those who begin to go astray. And the keep every good thought and feeling out of our minds—don’t you have days like that? And the lesson is clear: Keep your mind always staid upon God—that no evil may come into your heart. This is simple language but pure gold for us in these latter days. The similar Book of Mormon language for this is to be “firm, steadfast and immovable” in keeping the commandments of the Lord.[xi]

Two. Let’s learn from our experiences where we have had a clear choice between light and darkness. The CTR (Choose the Right) approach to life really is a true way to happiness and once we have made that decision it will always bless us. I love how Lucy notes that soon before Joseph’s death (which would have been more than 20 years after this experience with Moroni), he still remembered to choose to keep the commandments of God.

Three. Looking to the Lord in prayer will always help to disperse any darkness that surrounds us. That darkness is usually in our mind and Spirit of God can fill our souls with light.

Four. The prince of darkness (I really like to leave that in lower-case letters!) has an innumerable train of associates. We should never take this lightly but always remember again that “they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”[xii] of

Five. We can absolutely know that Satan can fill our hearts with evil and is the one who leads us to walk in darkness and to blaspheme God. At some level we all know this, but if we are not careful, we can forget the source of our walking a dark path, a path that can lead to destruction, even the destruction of our souls. In contrast, God’s path is a way of holiness and of peace and rest. We need to remember the fruits of the Spirit which are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…”[xiii] These lessons really lead us back to primary where we are taught the basics of learning to choose between right and wrong.

Of course, there are many more lessons that can be learned from Joseph in this category. In Part 2 of this article, we will explore Joseph’s counsel and experiences from the perspective of his being a more seasoned adult.

Notes:

[i] Nelson, Russell M., We Can Do Better and Be Better, General Conference, Priesthood Session, April 2019.

[ii] See 2 Nephi 2:11.

[iii] (History, circa June 1839–circa 1841 [Draft 2], p. 3, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-june-1839-circa-1841-draft-2/3), emphasis added.

[iv] 2 Nephi 32:8.

[v] 2 Nephi 28:22.

[vi] [p. 23] (Journal, 1835–1836, p. 23, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed February 6, 2024, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/24?p=24), emphasis added.

[vii] (Orson Hyde, Ein Ruf aus der Wüste (A Cry out of the Wilderness), 1842, extract, English translation, p. , The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed February 6, 2024, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/orson-hyde-ein-ruf-aus-der-wste-a-cry-out-of-the-wilderness-1842-extract-english-translation/1)

[viii] Proctor, Scot Facer and Proctor, Maurine Jensen, Revised and Enhanced History of the Prophet Joseph by His Mother, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1996, chapter 18.

[ix] Notice the same kind of language from Moroni 7:11-17 for here was the very same Prophet who wrote those verses in the Book of Mormon, standing before Joseph as a glorified and resurrected being!

[x] History, 1834–1836, p. 95, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/99.

[xi] See, for example, Helaman 15:5-8; 1 Nephi 2:10; 3 Nephi 6:14; 2 Nephi 31:20; Mosiah 5:15 and Alma 1:25.

[xii] See 2 Kings 6:15-17.

[xiii] Galatians 5:22-23.